We are going to Arizona in mid April.

1. We are having trouble finding GC accomodations in the park. Any suggestions for "nice" lodgings if all in the park are sold out?

2. We want to go from the GC to Navajo National Monument and then to Canyon de Chelly. How much time should we allow? How far are the drives? Where should we stay?

Just show up at El Tovar, Bright Angel, I just bet they'll have room for you. Your second question, Navajo Nat'l Monument has no place to stay, a short, but great, visit is all you need. You can stay at Thunderbird Lodge at Canyon de Chelly and they'll pick you up for the tour there. I believe at that time of year the three hour afternoon tour would be best, starting at 2p.m., I think.....Leaving from GC, you can get there by then, though we always stop at Monument Valley, then onto CDC.

I second the suggestion for El Tovar. We initially had booked a place about an hour away from the canyon. When we got there we fell in love with El Tovar (This was in Mid-June). They had availability for our remaining two nights in the area and the price was way more reasonable than we expected.

I wouldn't "just show up" and hope they availability. Obviously, you have to have a backup plan (reservation somewhere else) or you might be sleeping in your car, or driving back to Flagstaff. You can certainly keep trying to book something at GC but make a reservation you can cancel elsewhere.

I've never stayed here, but for the closest location near the South Rim Grand Canyon, try lodging in Tusayan, AZ.

I'm a little confused. Did you want to spend the night near Navajo NM or just stop there on your way to Canyon de Chelly?

As desertduds mentioned, there is no lodging at Navajo National Monument, but there is a campground. The closest lodging would probably be at Kayenta. If you visit Navajo, you have to do a one mile hike to see the ruins off in the distance, unless you are there first thing in the morning for a ranger lead hike of 5 miles.

There are a couple chain motels in Chinle and the Thunderbird Lodge is in Canyon de Chelly.

Grand Canyon Village to Navajo National Monument is 145 miles and plan on 3 hours or more. There are several great scenic overlooks to stop at as you exit the park at Desert View.

Navajo to Canyon de Chelly is 135 miles and plan on a 3 hour drive.

If you skip Navajo then it's 260 miles and about 5 hours and 15 minutes.

If you have enough time for spending the night at Kayenta, then I'd go to Monument Valley. http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/monument_valley/

Utahtea

Thanks, Utahtea, I think I got a bit confused.

After leaving the GC, we want to visit Monument Valley and then Canyon de Chelly.

Our timing is flexible, so how many days/nights should we allow?

Any suggestion on where we should stay while we are on this leg of our trip?

How long is the drive from Canyon de Chelly back to Scottsdale?

OK, that sounds better.

Grand Canyon to Monument Valley is 180 miles and will take about 4 hours, but plan on a little more to stop at overlooks as you exit the Grand Canyon. Keep in mind that we always camp, but the two places to find lodging would be Gouldings and Kayenta. Gouldings would be my choice for location, location, location!

You can drive your self on some sections of the dirt road in Monument Valley or you can take a tour and see more places. Either the evening you arrive or the next morning. If you have plenty of time, spend a second night, if not then move on to Canyon de Chelly.

Monument Valley to Canyon de Chelly is 131 miles and will take almost 3 hours. You can tour the rim and do the one hike down into the canyon on this day and take a guided tour into the canyon the next day.

I'd spend 2 nights in Canyon de Chelly or if time is limited you could move on to Holbrook.

Canyon de Chelly to Scottsdale is 365 miles and will take about 6 hours of driving. On this drive you will pass Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site just north of Ganado, AZ on Hwy 191.

Also if you have the time drive the Petrified Forest National Park scenic drive down to Hwy 180 and take that into Holbrook. This will add 20 miles and about an hours time. If you had time to spend the night in Holbrook, you could spend more time at the Petrified forest.

Other sites to see on the way back are Walnut Canyon National Monument just off I-40 east of Flagstaff and Montezuma's Castle National Monument on I-17 just north of Camp Verde.

Utahtea

How does this itinerary sound?

Fri - arrive in scottdale early afternoon.

Sat - drive from Scottsdale to Sedona

Sun - Sedona

Mon - Sedona

Tues - drive to CG. Stay at El Tovar.

Wed - am: CG. pm: drive to Kayenta. ?sunset horseback ride? Stay at Goulding Lodge.

Thurs - am: jeep tour of monument valley. pm: drive to Chinle.

Fri - South rim drive around canyon de Chelly. Continue to Holbrook, stopping along the way as necessary

Sat - return to Scottsdale.

Sun - R & R at the Hyatt

Mon - fly home

Would it be too ambitious to drive around CDC and make it back to Scottsdale in one day (Friday)?

Given all the great stuff to see after the GC, perhaps we should only stay in Sedona for 2 nites, not 3?

Any other suggestions??

Andy

Chinle to Scottsdale probably could be done on Friday if you have seen Canyon de Chelly on Thursday afternoon.

I'm not big on Sedona but others really like it. It's to civilized for me so I'd choose to only stay 2 nights instead of 3 and have time to see the other sites.

The day you leave Sedona for the Grand Canyon, make it an early start so you have some time at the rim to explore all the different overlooks by shuttle buses.

Utahtea

When you are at Canyon de Chelly you should definitely plan to take the Navajo jeep tour into the valley, not just drive around the rim. The rim views are interesting but the Navajo guides are wonderful and very knowledgeable. We enjoyed Canyon de Cheey as much as anything in AZ. You can book the tours at the Thunderbird or at the Holiday Inn in Chinle - we stayed at the HI and really enjoyed it.

Wow - thanks everyone for all the great input.

Recognizing that the two attactions are vastly different, if I had to choose between a jeep tour at monument national park and a jeep tour into Canyon de Chelly, which would you recommend?

Hopefully we can do both, but I want to have my priorities straight.

Andy

If you can't do both tours, which ever you pick will be a good one! You can drive yourself into Monument Valley and see quite a lot of the park on your own. You can even see a lot of it from the main highway.

I do recommend the Canyon de Chelly tour...but April can be a wet time of the year. I'd call ahead and make sure they will be able to do the tour before you pass up on the Monument Valley tour!

Utahtea